The present invention relates to a card connector, and particularly to a card ejection mechanism for a card connector.
Following the trend of reduced computer size, present laptop computers are often equipped with card connectors for connecting memory cards or I/O cards thereto. Such card connectors are disclosed in Taiwan Patent Application Nos. 80207499, 81216447, 81217278, 82205600, 83202199, 83107162, 8328140 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,818,239, 4,878,856, 4,810,203, 5,085,590, 5,149,276, 5,176,523, 5,286,207, 5,290,174, 5,324,204 and 5,334,046.
The above mentioned conventional card connectors share a common disadvantage requiring further improvement, a detailed description of which is given below.
FIGS. 1 to 2(B) respectively show components constituting a conventional card connector and two different operational states of the connector when it is mounted in a computer.
FIG. 1 shows that the conventional card connector generally comprises a dielectric housing 6 having two side arms 60 each forming a rear engaging rod 602. A number of contacts 601 are fixed to the housing 6 between the two side arms 60. The contacts 601 are soldered to a daughter board 62 which is connected to a mother board (not shown) of the computer. A grounding plate 64 is mounted on the housing 6 and soldered to the daughter board 62. The grounding plate 64 is used to transfer electrostatic charges carried by a memory or I/O card inserted into the connector to a ground potential. Two guiding frames 50 are connected to the housing 6 by engaging with the engaging rods 602 of the housing 6. The guiding frames 50 guide the insertion of a card into the connector to electrically and mechanically connect with the contacts 601 after first contacting the grounding plate 64. A card ejection mechanism 5 includes an actuating arm 54 slidably received in the left guiding frame 50. A handle 501 is attached to a rear end of the actuating arm 54. A mounting plate 53 is fixed between the two frames 50. A link 52 is pivotably mounted to the mounting plate 53 and has a first end connected with the actuating arm 54 and a second end connected with a card ejection plate 51 which is slidably mounted to the mounting plate 53.
FIG. 2(A) shows the connector mounted in a housing 7 of a computer, without a card inserted therein and with the handle 501 at a first position abutting the left guiding frame 50. When a card 8 is inserted into the connector, the card 8 will displace the handle 501 via the ejection plate 51, the link 52 and the actuating arm 54 to move rearwardly away from the frame 50 and reach a second position as shown in FIG. 2(B). When the handle 501 is pushed from the second position toward the frame 50 to return to the first position as shown in FIG. 2(A), the card 8 will be ejected by the ejection plate 51 thereby disengaging from the connector.
Although, the conventional card ejection mechanism 5 has proven to function well, further improvement is required. FIGS. 2(A) and 2(B) show the card connector received in a slot (not labeled) formed by the housing 7 of the computer. When the handle 501 is in the second position for ejecting the card 8, the handle 501 remains within the slot in alignment with the inserted card 8. Since the slot has a small dimension and the handle 501 is a relatively small component, a user intending to eject the inserted card 8 by extending a finger into the slot to depress the handle 501 may not always contact the correct location. The user may mistakenly touch the card 8 instead of the handle 501 and exert a force on the card 8 possibly resulting in damage to either the card 8 or the card connector.
Hence, there is a need for a card connector with an improved card ejection mechanism to eliminate the above-mentioned defect of current card connectors.
Moreover, when a card is in the inserted position, it will be advantageous to permit a user to choose if a subsequent movement of the handle will eject or retract the card.